Airtel Africa has reported a substantial 375.3% year-on-year (YoY) increase in its Profit After Tax (PAT) to $376 million for the first half of its 2025 fiscal year, which concluded on 20 September 2025. This financial milestone was detailed in the company's recently released financial statement.
The company attributes this remarkable growth to an expanding customer base and strong confidence in its strategic initiatives. Key innovations, such as the Airtel Spam alert system, enhanced revenue generation capabilities, and the expansion of digital offerings, including increased uptake of the myAirtel app, have been highlighted as significant contributors.
Customer Base and Data Usage Growth
Airtel Africa now serves a total of 173.8 million customers across its 14 African markets, marking an 11% increase from the 156.6 million customers recorded 12 months prior. The company also experienced an 18.4% surge in data subscribers, growing from 66 million to 78.1 million, which underscores the ongoing trend of smartphone penetration and escalating data consumption across its operating regions.
Sunil Taldar, Chief Executive Officer of Airtel Africa, commented on the company's performance, noting that the increase in smartphone penetration to 46.8% reflects a steadfast commitment to fostering Africa's digital economy. He emphasized that the considerable demand for data services across its markets necessitates building additional capacity to support the rise in both digital and financial inclusion.
Our strategy has been focused on providing a superior customer experience, and the strength of these results is a testament to the initiatives that we have been implementing across the business. Digital innovation is a core focus, and we’re pleased to see the growing adoption of the MyAirtel app as we seek to deepen customer engagement and simplify the customer journey.
Overall Financial Performance
For the half-year period ending September 2025, Airtel Africa generated a total revenue of $2.982 billion. This represents a 24.5% increase in constant currency and a 25.8% increase in reported currency.
The company stated that the revenue growth in constant currency is a direct result of consistent strategic execution, bolstered by tariff adjustments in Nigeria and sustained strong growth momentum in Francophone Africa.
Across its 14 African markets, Airtel's mobile services revenue saw a 23.1% increase in constant currency, reaching $2.495 billion. This growth was propelled by a 13.2% increase in voice revenue and a significant 37.0% rise in data revenue.
Specifically, Airtel Africa recorded $1.161 billion in revenue from data services, surpassing voice revenue ($1.1 billion) to become the group's largest revenue component.
Mobile money revenues continued to benefit from increased scale and higher engagement levels, delivering a 30.2% growth in constant currency. From the total mobile money revenue of $623 million, wallet services contributed $299 million, payments and transfers generated $262 million, and financial services accounted for $22 million. Other revenue streams within Airtel Africa’s mobile money operations added $35 million.
Regional Performance Highlights
Airtel Nigeria
In Nigeria, which is Airtel's largest market by subscriber numbers, the company recorded a revenue of $699 million for the half-year ending September 30, 2025. This figure represents a 46.5% year-on-year increase based on reported currency changes.
Airtel Nigeria's total customer base grew by 9.9%, from 48.7 million in September 2024 to 53.6 million in September 2025. This positions Airtel Nigeria as the second-largest mobile network operator in Nigeria by subscriber count, following MTN Nigeria.
The company's voice revenue in Nigeria increased by 34.7% in constant currency to $268 million, driven by a 25.7% growth in voice average revenue per user (ARPU). Data revenue surged by 62.4% to $357 million from $229 million, fueled by an increase in data customers and growth in data ARPU by 12.2% and 46.6%, respectively.
Airtel's mobile money performance in Nigeria, however, is still in its nascent stages. Airtel Nigeria reported a 46.1% year-on-year increase in its mobile money customer base, growing from 1.4 million to 2 million. This number remains considerably lower than the 38.9 million customers in its East African region and 8.9 million in Francophone Africa.
East Africa
The East African region generated $1.047 billion in revenue, reflecting an 18.5% increase in reported currency and a 15.6% increase in constant currency. Airtel Africa noted that the higher reported currency revenue growth, compared to constant currency, was primarily due to the appreciation of the Ugandan shilling and Zambian kwacha.
Airtel's East African markets, which include Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia, saw a 10.8% year-on-year increase in their customer base, reaching 82.3 million. The data customer base also experienced a significant surge of 19%, growing from 28.8 million to 34.3 million.
During the review period, voice revenues amounted to $518 million, marking a 14.6% increase, while data revenue rose by 19.6% to $434 million.
Data usage per customer increased by 25.0% to 7.3 GB per customer per month, with smartphone penetration rising by 3.5% to reach 43.7%. Smartphone data usage per customer averaged 9.0 GB per month, up from 7.4 GB per month in the previous period.
Mobile money revenue grew by 29.7% year-on-year in constant currency to $466 million, supported by a customer base of 38.9 million, up from 33 million.
Francophone Africa
Airtel Africa's francophone markets, which include Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Madagascar, Niger, the Republic of the Congo, and the Seychelles, generated $749 million in revenue. This represents a 17.7% year-on-year growth in reported currency and a 14.5% growth in constant currency.
The subscriber base in Francophone Africa grew by 12.8% to 38 million, while data users surged by 32.5% to 14.3 million. Voice revenue saw a decline of 2.7% in constant currency, but increased by 0.8% in reported currency to $316 million.
Data revenue grew by 39.0% in constant currency to $370 million, supported by customer base growth of 31.5%. Data usage per customer increased to 6.4 GB per month, up from 5.1 GB in the prior period. Smartphone penetration rose by 4.1% to reach 44.9%. Smartphone data usage per customer also reached 7.6 GB per month, compared to 6.2 GB per month a year ago.
Mobile money revenue increased by 29.8% year-on-year in constant currency to $153 million, with a customer base of 8.9 million, up from 7.1 million.